LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Published
4:00 am PDT, Saturday, August 9, 1997

CRITICAL MASS IS ABOUT SAVING THE PLANET

Editor -- The Chronicle just doesn't get it. And neither does Willie Brown. The Critical Mass ride is not about "protesting bike riding rules" as you so ignorantly state in your July 29 editorial. The ride's original purpose may have been to promote bicycle awareness. But bicycle advocacy only touches the simmering surface and does not explain the growing popularity of the ride in this city and others worldwide. Underneath all the rhetoric, Critical Mass protests our gross dependence on the automobile. Notwithstanding overpopulation, the internal combustion automobile, with its associated expanses of asphalt and resultant suburban sprawl, is the most visibly destructive threat to community and planet.

To denigrate Critical Mass as somehow frivolous compared to issues such as homelessness or welfare misses the mark badly. All other causes are secondary to saving the planet. Critical Mass is the defining movement of our time. The actual Friday night ride may wane but the underlying issue will not go away. Remember that in the end, long after your foolish editorials decompose in a landfill and Willie is forgotten, human-powered transportation will be all that's left. Or cockroaches.

CY CULLER

San Francisco

MATH TEACHER RESPONDS

Editor -- I have observed Debra Saunders' myopia of the math education issue far too long and can stay silent no longer. Yes, I was educated by "educrats" at Stanford University. I believe in and apply the values set forth in the NCTM (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics) Standards. Come to my classroom, Ms. Saunders. Students not only stress the importance of "right answers" and spend time drilling calculations emphasizing rigor and accuracy, but they also reflect on the relevance of what they do, how to communicate mathematics and pursue inductive processes of discovery. Effectively applied math education reform is an issue of thoughtful balance, not reactionary pendulum swings driven by sound-bite journalism. A quote from one of my students' journal entries reads, "I now look back at the entire year, without a doubt the most important, influential year of math I have experienced thus far in my life. I have learned more about the nature of math, why we learn math, what math is all about, in this year than in all the years combined." It would be a crime to return to the dark ages where, in the words of another student who experienced largely traditional math schooling, "Math is just something created by adults to figure out who is smart or not. We've just gotta get through it." Which outlook do you believe creates the minds that can best meet the challenges of the 21st century?

SCOTT H. BEALL

Homestead High School Cupertino

ALTERNATIVE TRANSIT NEEDS

Editor -- Missing from all the hoopla over Critical Mass is any consideration of its roots in our auto-dependent society. Traffic congestion has gotten steadily worse and is now what residents most frequently cite as the greatest problem in the Bay Area. Yet City Hall is threatening to criminalize bike riding while encouraging even more driving. San Francisco's top transit priority should be to promote less driving. It should be to make it possible for San Franciscans to get anywhere in the city safely, conveniently and speedily by alternative transit. Muni should be a pleasure to ride. Streets should be traffic-calmed and speeds reduced to make them safe for bike riders, children and the elderly, not to mention pleasanter places to be for everyone. Drivers should be required to pay in full the environmental and social costs their automobiles create. The Green Party supports convening a transportation summit before we auto-destruct.

GARDENS THRIVING

Editor -- Your recent series on the decline of Golden Gate Park neglected to highlight the public/private partnership that has enabled Strybing Arboretum & Botanical Gardens to thrive in spite of public funding attrition. Since 1955, the nonprofit Strybing Arboretum Society has raised -- and invested -- millions of dollars in private funds to preserve and develop the gardens.

The society operates the largest horticultural library in California, funds interns to work in garden areas where city gardening staff have been cut back and recently raised $90,000 to repair the damage from the 1995 storms.

We run an extensive youth education program, including docent-led outdoor botany classes for thousands of Bay Area schoolchildren and a summer latch-key program for city children who learn to grow flowers and vegetables in our privately funded Children's Garden.

The society has approved a visionary Master Plan, which will significantly improve the collections, gardens and facilities and enable Strybing to enhance its horticultural and educational mission. The success of the plan depends on our ability to raise significant capital funds from private sources.

Hopefully, your series will galvanize the citizens and government officials of San Francisco to rejuvenate the park through dramatically increased private investment coupled with a perma nent commitment of public sector resources. This kind of public/private partnership will enable Strybing -- and the rest of Golden Gate Park -- to flourish as the urban jewels they were intended to be.

IN DEFENSE OF YEE

Editor -- The removal of Supervisor Leland Yee from two Board of Supervisors committees by board President Barbara Kaufman constituted an abuse of power. Supervisor Yee is an intelligent man and brings to the board much experience, having given outstanding service as a member of the Board of Education. He represents the people of San Francisco well, speaking his own mind on issues as they arise, but always being mindful of the needs and views of his constituents. We need differences of opinion and thinking on our board and its committees to properly address city issues. By her action, which seems politically motivated, Barbara Kaufman has taken from the people of San Francisco, at least in the key committees from which he has been removed, a voice which represents all of us.

INITIATIVE CLARIFIED

Editor -- Your July 18 article on our initiative against "bilingual education" contained several inaccuracies which should be clarified. First, our initiative would not actually ban "bilingual education." It would simply require that parents seeking to place or keep their children in a "bilingual education" program obtain a waiver by providing some indication that their children would do better in such a program. Also, your statement that the landmark 1974 Lau vs. Kinney case requires "bilingual education" represents common belief but is factually incorrect. Lau simply requires schools to provide some form of extra assistance to non-English speaking students.

Finally, your article seemed to identify our initiative with Prop. 187. Aside from the likely popularity of both measures, there seems very little similarity. Prop. 187 was an attempt to overturn a Supreme Court decision by state action; our measure is absolutely supported by all relevant federal court decisions. Prop. 187 would have expelled immigrant children from school; our measure keeps them in school and also allows them to learn English.

Personally, I cannot think of any policy which will provide greater long-term benefit to California's large immigrant population than ensuring that their children are taught English in our public schools.

RON K. UNZ

English for the Children Palo Alto

A NEW BLACK CAT?

Editor -- I would suggest turning Belli's office back into the Black Cat in honor of another San Francisco luminary, Jose.